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Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was an American serial killer and sex offender, who committed the rape, murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, with many of his later murders also involving necrophilia, cannibalism and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeletal structure. Diagnosed by psychologists and prison psychiatrists as suffering from a borderline personality disorder, Dahmer was found to be legally sane at his trial. Convicted of 15 of the 16 murders he had committed in Wisconsin, Dahmer was sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment on February 15, 1992. He was later sentenced to a 16th term of life imprisonment in relation to an additional homicide committed in the state of Ohio in 1978. On November 28, 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death by Christopher Scarver, a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution, where he had been incarcerated. early life Jeffrey Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in West Allis, Wisconsin, the first son of Joyce Annette (née Flint) and Lionel Herbert Dahmer. Dahmer's mother worked as a teletype machine instructor, whereas his father was a student at Marquette University, working towards a degree in chemistry. His father was of German ancestry, and his mother was of Welsh ancestry. Although Dahmer was doted upon as an infant and toddler by both parents, his mother was known to be tense, greedy for attention and argumentative with both her husband and her neighbors. As her son entered first grade, Joyce Dahmer began to spend an increasing amount of her time in bed recovering from weakness. Lionel's university studies kept him away from home much of the time; when he was home, Joyce demanded constant attention. She reportedly would work herself into a state of anxiety over trivial matters simply to achieve appeasement from her husband. On one occasion, Joyce Dahmer attempted suicide from an overdose of the Equanil pills to which she had become addicted.As a result, neither parent had much time to care for Jeffrey. Dahmer himself recalled his early years of family life as being of "extreme tension" which he noted between his parents, whom he observed to be constantly arguing with each other. At school, he was both quiet and timid; on his first grade report card, one teacher described Dahmer as a reserved child whom she sensed to feel neglected, and he was regarded as a "quiet kid" by many of his peers. Although largely reserved and uncommunicative in grade school, Dahmer did have a small number of friends. From an early age, Dahmer manifested an interest in animals. Friends later recalled Dahmer initially collected large insects, dragonflies and butterflies which he placed inside jars. Later, Dahmer—occasionally accompanied by one or more of his few friends—would collect animal carcasses from the roadside; these animals Dahmer would dismember either at home or in an expanse of woodland behind the family home. According to one friend, Dahmer would dismember these animals and store the parts in jars in the family's wooden toolshed, always explaining that he was curious as to how each animal "fitted together." In one instance, he is known to have impaled a dog's head upon a stake behind his house. Dahmer's fascination with dead animals might have begun when, at the age of four, he noted his father removing animal bones from beneath the family home. According to Lionel Dahmer, his son was "oddly thrilled" by the sound the bones made. The Dahmer family relocated to Doylestown, Ohio, in October 1966.nAt the time, Joyce Dahmer was pregnant with her second child. When she gave birth to a baby boy on December 18, 1966, Jeffrey was allowed to choose the name of the baby. He chose the name David for his younger brother. The same year, Lionel Dahmer achieved his degree and subsequently obtained employment as an analytical chemist in the city of Akron. In 1968, the family relocated to Bath, Ohio. Two years later, over a family meal of chicken, Dahmer asked his father what would happen if the bones of the chicken were to be placed in bleach. Lionel Dahmer was by this stage concerned as to his elder son's placid and lethargic attitude and his solitary existence; he was delighted at the initiative displayed by his son towards what he believed to be scientific curiosity;therefore, he willingly demonstrated how to bleach and, later, preserve animal bones. The knowledge regarding cleansing and preserving of these bones Dahmer would later utilize upon many of the animal remains which he continued to avidly collect and of which his father, being a chemist, taught his son safe usage. Adolescence and high school From his freshman year at Revere High School, Dahmer was seen by his peers as an outcast with few friends. Many of Dahmer's classmates later recollected being disturbed by the fact that he was known to drink both beer and spirits, which he smuggled into school inside the lining of his army fatigue jacket and which he is also known to have surreptitiously concealed inside his locker. This alcohol abuse was known to occur before, during and after school and was first noted when Dahmer was 14. On one occasion, a classmate observed Dahmer consuming a cup of gin and asked him why he was drinking liquor in class, to which Dahmer casually replied, "It's my medicine." Nonetheless, in his freshman year at Revere High School, Dahmer, although largely uncommunicative, was observed by staff to be a polite student who was known to be highly intelligent. He initially achieved only average grades, which staff attributed to his apathy. He was also known to have been a keen tennis player and to have briefly played in the high school band. When he reached puberty, Dahmer discovered he was a homosexual. He did not divulge his sexuality to his parents, although in his early teens, he did engage in a brief relationship with another youth, although the pair never had intercourse. By his own later admission, as he began to fantasize sexually, issues of dominance and control over a completely subservient partner were prevalent in his thoughts. These thoughts gradually became intertwined with dissection. On one occasion when he was approximately 16 years old, Dahmer conceived a fantasy of rendering a particular male jogger he found attractive unconscious and then making sexual use of his unconscious body. To render the man unconscious, Dahmer concealed himself in bushes on the route he had noted the jogger took, baseball bat in hand, and lay in wait for the jogger. On this particular day, the jogger did not pass him and, although Dahmer never attempted to implement this plan again, he later stated this was his first attempt to attack another individual. Despite being regarded as a loner and an oddball amongst his peers at Revere High School, Dahmer nonetheless became something of a cult figureamong some students due to the pranks he was known to stage regularly — some of which were done to amuse his classmates, others apparently to simply attract attention. These pranks became known as "Doing a Dahmer" and included bleating, simulating epileptic seizures or cerebral palsy and knocking over items both at school and at local stores. By 1977, Dahmer's academic performance had declined, due to his alcohol abuse and his general apathy toward academic and social interactions.His grades plummeted. His parents hired a private tutor for their son, but the tutor only had limited success. The same year, Dahmer's parents attended counseling sessions to try and resolve personal differences and thus save their marriage. The counseling was ultimately unsuccessful, and Dahmer's parents decided to divorce. Although initially on amicable grounds, both of Dahmer's parents began to frequently quarrel in the presence of their sons and, in early 1978, Lionel Dahmer moved out of the house. In May 1978, Dahmer graduated from high school. A few weeks before his graduation, one of his teachers observed Dahmer sitting close to the school parking lot, drinking several cans of beer. When the teacher threatened to report the matter, Dahmer informed him he was experiencing "a lot of problems" at home and that the school's guidance counselor was aware of them. Shortly after this incident, Joyce was awarded custody of her younger son and vacated the family residence, moving in with family members of hers; Dahmer, having just turned 18, was legally an adult and therefore not subject to court custodial considerations.